Part 1, Section III: Account Transactions

This section provides accounting transactions for events occurring throughout

the federal government. The transactions illustrate both proprietary and

budgetary entries for each accounting event. Transactions are grouped under the

following categories:

 A 100-799 Funding Sources

 B 100-699 Disbursements and Payables

 C 100-799 Collections and Receivables

 D 100-799 Adjustments/Write-offs/Reclassifications

 E 100-799 Accruals/Non-Budgetary Transfers Other Than

Disbursements

 and Collections

 F 100-499 Year-end

 G 100-299 Memorandum Entries

 H 100-799 Other Specialized Transaction Entries

The above categories provide a basic framework for organizing the transactions.

Also included, as a quick reference, is a listing of transaction descriptions.

These accounting transactions document basic standard posting logic for

financial events across the federal government.

The following notes explain conventions to follow when using the USSGL and the

limitations of this compilation of USSGL transactions:

There are valid accounting events/postings not yet documented. Agencies

may engage in financial activity that the USSGL Board has not yet

addressed. If so, submit an issue to the USSGL Board through the

agency’s USSGL representative. To illustrate the issue, document

accounting events specific to the activity in a simple accounting

scenario. Include references to specific legislation, accounting

standards, or central agency requirements that make the activity unique

from those currently documented. This documentation may be useful for

explaining variances from the USSGL standard to auditors.

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For deposit funds, there are valid accounting postings not yet

documented. When recording any transaction in a deposit fund, agencies

should not record (a) budgetary entries or (b) entries that result in

net revenues, expenses, gains, or losses in nonfiduciary deposit funds.

Examples of many transactions commonly used in non-fiduciary deposit

funds are provided in the USSGL Implementation Guide: Nonfiduciary

Deposit Funds with Investment Authority and Clearing Accounts.

For nonexpenditure transfers of budget authority between Treasury

Appropriation Fund Symbols (TAFS), the "Transfer From" entity will

determine the source of funds being transferred and record a

proprietary USSGL account that designates the funding as being derived

from either:

Unexpended appropriations from general fund resources not

earmarked by law for a specific purpose–USSGL account 310300,

“Unexpended Appropriations–Transfers-Out,” or 

Financing sources that impact cumulative results of

operations-USSGL account 576500, “Nonexpenditure Financing

Sources–Transfers-Out.”

The “Transfer To” entity must use a proprietary USSGL account that corresponds

to the proprietary USSGL account used by the “Transfer From” entity. USSGL

account 310200, “Unexpended Appropriations–Transfers-In” corresponds to USSGL

account 310300. USSGL account 575500, “Nonexpenditure Financing Sources–

Transfers-In” corresponds to USSGL account 576500. Failure of both entities to

record the matching proprietary USSGL account category (310200/310300 or

575500/576500) will result in agency-wide and/or government-wide elimination

discrepancies.

There may be mixed funding in a single TAFS. The net position of a TAFS may be

a mix of:

Unexpended appropriations derived from general fund resources not

earmarked by law for a specific purpose, and

Financing sources, such as Economy Act revenue, that impact cumulative

results of operations.

To facilitate reconciliation of interagency expenses and revenues, do not post

cost directly to “in-process type” asset accounts. Agencies must first record

cost, such as direct labor (payroll and benefits) and direct materials that do

not meet agency established capitalization thresholds, in the appropriate USSGL

account 600000 series expense account. Use USSGL account 661000, “Cost

Capitalization Offset” to apply the cost to the desired “in-process type” asset

account. Do not record amounts applied to asset accounts under this method to

USSGL account 88XXXX series accounts.

The transactions illustrate USSGL accounts without applicable attribute values.

Therefore, a single transaction listed here may translate to several similar

transactions in the agency’s accounting system depending on how many

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combinations of USSGL accounts and attribute values are valid to record the

agency’s activities. Agencies must post transactions using the 6-digit USSGL

account plus valid attribute values to fully comply with implementation of the

USSGL at the transaction level and to facilitate necessary central agency

reporting. Additionally, since the 6-digit base account combined with valid

attributes is itself a USSGL account, agencies must post debit and credit

entries to reclassify balances even when the 6-digit base account is the same.

Transactions affecting budgetary status may contain debit or credit postings to

multiple USSGL status accounts that may be valid for a particular transaction.

Choose a USSGL account appropriate to the status of authority in the affected

TAFS and the accounting event recorded.

All transactions apply to activity with federal and non-federal entities unless

limited by account definition or otherwise noted in the transaction description.

A USSGL transaction crosswalk can be obtained on the TFM website.

The transaction reference provides an example of where this transaction appears.

It may not provide all possible USSGL implementation guidance that contains this

transaction.

Section III Page Number

USSGL Account Transaction Categories (AC) III AC - 1

USSGL Account Transaction Listing (AL) III AL - 1

USSGL Account Transactions (AT) III AT - 1

USSGL Account Transaction Postings (AP) III AP - 1

Note: The following alpha extensions to transaction numbers indicate:

 R = The USSGL transaction noted with the “R” extension contains

instructions to reverse in the comment.

 AP = The USSGL transaction noted with the “AP” extension contains

instructions to also post another transaction in the comment.

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